


The Difficulty of Everyday Things

by dotfic



Category: DCU Animated, Justice League Unlimited
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-10-08
Updated: 2005-10-08
Packaged: 2017-10-11 05:42:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/109016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dotfic/pseuds/dotfic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>J'onn fumbles towards humanity. (Set post-"To Another Shore")</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Difficulty of Everyday Things

  
first posted to livejournal 10/8/2005

Title: The Difficulty of Everyday Things  
Author: dotfic  
Gen, PG  
Fandom/continuity: JLU, drabble series set post-"To Another Shore"  
Summary: J'onn fumbles towards humanity.  
Disclaimer: Owned by DC/Warner Bros. Not mine, except in my head.

* * *

I. Neighbors

  
John Jones gets himself an apartment, a credit card, and a job.

He knows how to screen out their thoughts, only letting them in when he wants to. Familiar minds are easier to screen out than strangers. Sometimes their thoughts get in whether he wants them to or not. He tries to sleep as they do, even though he sheds his human form and clothing.

The couple in the apartment above him are fighting again. Their thoughts get in through the cracks.

Alone in the darkness, the Martian curls up in the bed and holds his head with his hands.

  
* * *

II. Company

Bringing her steadfast presence, Diana comes to see him first.

When it's Wally's turn, J'onn thinks how strangely exposed he looks without his Flash cowl, how much younger. He forgets Wally has red hair. His companionship is a relief, because the rapid hum of his mind helps drown out the thoughts of strangers.

John and Mari stop by, and he reads her unhappiness without meaning to, something sadder than restlessness, more complicated than longing, because what she longs for is what she has.

Shayera visits on a different day. She has what she doesn't want.

Their visits aren't a surprise.

  
* * *

III. Socks

  
The only visitor who is a surprise is Bruce Wayne, unmasked.

There are the usual pleasantries. Bruce is good at this. To find out what he's doing there, J'onn would have to push into the man's mind.

Bruce asks how he's doing. J'onn mentions the difficulty of everyday things.

"Socks," Bruce says.

"What?"

"At times, putting on socks seems ridiculously small next to what we all do. At other times...I imagine a world where I care about my socks."

And J'onn realizes, even though Bruce has been human all his life, he fumbles with it as much as John Jones.

  
* * *

IV. Cookies

Clark, on the other hand, wears his humanity as easily as the frayed, comfortable argyle sweater he has on that day. Not the essence of himself, but a layer that hovers familiarly around him.

"Here." Clark hands him a brown paper bag.

J'onn looks inside and pulls out a package of Oreos.

"Thank you."

They eat cookies. Clark sneezes loudly, and his entire body moves. It reminds J'onn that Clark loves the small details of being human.

He reaches for another cookie. The plastic makes a gentle crinkly noise and he learns something brand new: sound can make him hungry.

  
* * *

V. Interference

At the beginning, his tells himself he cannot interfere.

The first time he's tempted, two bigger boys push a smaller boy. There's no true malice in them. The smaller boy is angry, not utterly defeated.

He lets it go.

The second time it's the upstairs neighbors. He fears they will hurt each other.

He waits. There is sobbing and soft voices, reconciled.

The third time, he stops a knife from plunging into a victim's side in a dark alley, without shape-shifting.

The fourth time he realizes there will be no end to it.

Every time, he does what he can.

  
* * *

VI. Acceptance

John Jones mechanically waters his philodendron, pets a dog, tastes the rain. Reading feels more real to him. There's a sharp ache of understanding when a character says he feels "thin and stretched."

From the roof of his building, he can see stars, nothing as bright or breathtaking as from the Watchtower. Traffic noises rise from below. For a moment he morphs from human to true Martian.

Home is now in a space container filled with heroes, in a street lined with trees where dogs bark.

Home is no longer a distant star.

He knows this. He can't yet believe.

* * *


End file.
